Page 28 of Partridge in a Bear Tree

Turning into a partridge, not so much. "Swans, yes," Penny blurted. "But who the hell turns into a partridge? Is it because of my last name?" she demanded. "Is it, what's it called? When your name defines your destiny? My parents are Rich and Mary Beth Partridge so I turn into one? Is that it?"

"I don't think so," Ashley said cautiously. "I think it's innate. Someone in your birth family, somewhere along the line, was a shifter. Probably a partridge shifter, although there are unexpected mutations, sometimes. I know someone who's a giraffe. Just, like, randomly. The rest of his family are red pandas."

Penny's growing distress was temporarily derailed by that, turning into a helpless giggle. "That must have been a shock."

The partridge wentBZOTblue in her head again.

Penny had been a shifter for about nine minutes, and she was going to kill the bird in her brain before she reached the tenth minute.

"It was," Ashley was saying with a smile. "The whole family ended up moving to Ireland when he was about six, to work and live at some wildlife park there where he could shift some of the time without drawing attention. Red pandas can sneak around a town like Renaissance pretty easily, but a giraffe stands out. So can I take you home? To my place?"

"Yeah," Penny whispered. "I think you're right, I probably shouldn't be alone. I feel like I'm losing my mind. Honestly, a partridge?"

"There are a huge number of predator shifters," Ashley said as she crawled back into the driver's seat. "I've got a theory that it was a survival adaptation. But there's something to be said for 'small and hides easily,' too, so therearenon-predator shifters."

"I like how you manage not to say 'prey species' there."

Ashley grimaced into the rear-view mirror. "Shifters don't hunt other shifters so the whole idea gives me the creeps. I definitely don't think of non-predator shifters as prey species. Do you know anything about your birth parents?"

Penny turned her head to look out the window as they left the parking lot. "Nothing. It was a closed adoption and my birth mother didn't even leave any permission to access medical records. She couldn't have known, could she? I mean, if you knew you were a shifter how could you adopt your kid out into a—what did you call regular people?"

"True humans."

"Yeah. A true human family without some kind of warning?"

"I don't know. Maybe she didn't feel like she had any choice."

"Maybe." Penny pressed her head against the window. The partridge saidcold!and she muttered,I wouldn't be so cold if I'd stayed dressed when I shifted,back at it.

The partridge gave an injured sniff.The window is cold.

Oh. Sorry.Oh, God, she was talking to the voice in her head. This couldn't possibly end well. "It doesn't matter," she said outloud. "I mean, obviously I want to know, but I accepted a long time ago that there were things I'd never know. This is much, much, much," she took a breath, "muchweirder than the rest of it, but it's still the same kind of thing."

Ashley, quietly, said, "I'm here for you to talk to, if it helps."

"Right. My mate." That came out sharper than Penny meant it to, and she tried to soften her voice. "No, I mean it. My mate. I can feel it now. Or what I was feeling makes sense? It's this certainty, right here." She pressed the heel of her hand over her heart. "I justknow, when I look at you. It's actually amazing, and if I wasn't completely freaked out I'd really be enjoying it. I'm sorry to take that away from you."

"You're not." Ashley flashed her a smile in the rear-view mirror. "Everybody says the first little while after you tell your mate about what you really are is weird. We have an extra helping of weird, that's all. I still know in my heart that I'm meant for you, and it's kind of amazing to hear that you know it in the same way now too. Fated mates are supposed to, but…it's different with two shifters, I think."

"Well, an hour ago I had a huge dumb crush and ridiculous plans for a lifetime together even though we've only really known each other a few days across a couple of months. Now I've got a bird in my head telling me it wasn't a dumb crush, it was fate striking like a gong. I feel confident about it in a way I didn't. Even if I've got a talking bird in my head. Oh my god, I'm going insane."

Ashley laughed. "No, you're not. It'll be okay. Honestly, all I can think is you've got the world's strongest willpower and you just squished the partridge down because let's be real, who turns into a partridge? Or anything else, for that matter? But I'm going to get hold of Maggie flipping Ross and have her come over and explain how the hell she knew you were a shifter, and whethershe's got any advice for a bird shifter, okay? I'm sure she and Conri are still in town. They can come over tomorrow."

"Yes," Penny said. "Because expecting world-famous professional wrestlers to just drop by and explain everything is perfectly normal."

"Okay, normally I would agree, but in this particular case I think I'm right." Ashley drove them up to a low, attractive apartment complex and came to open the car door for Penny.

The wall is falling! Help! Help! The wall is falling!

Penny froze with one foot out the door.The 'wall' is a door and itopened. How can you know what a window is and not what a door is?

The partridge also froze, everything motionless except its eyes, which darted around like it thought the question might be a trick. A longish silence suggested it wasn't going to answer, so Penny sighed and got out of the car. "If I go have a long sleep, everything will be normal in the morning, right?"

"For some value of normal?" Ashley suggested hopefully. "A new normal, one might say?"

Penny groaned. "Nobody likes that phrase."

"Yeah? Not even when your new normal is being a bonafide rock star?"

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